Good Morning All,
Romans 12:18; “If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.”
The world claims it desires peace.
Yet how does the world define peace?
Most of the time, peace is the absence of violence. Unfortunately, this usually means getting ready
for the next battle to occur. This is
true of nations, of neighbors even of families.
Too often we see peace as what I get when you lose. We seek peace but it is often a fleeting
thing and hard to have.
Some of this is because of all the outside
pressure that the world applies to us.
The pressure that the world exerts with all the force it has often
causes us to crack. The stress can be
great and peace is hard to find. So, if
we want peace, we need to see how God desires peace for us.
Peace is one of God’s greatest gift for
us. Peace allows us to rest. Peace allows us to be part of God’s designed
rhythm of rest and work. This is part of
the reason that God made the Sabbath; it gives us a chance to rest and to find
some peace. Peace gives us the sense of
comfort in his arms.
Another part of peace is the need to
forgive and to receive forgiveness.
Where there is no forgiveness, there is no peace. This simple truth speaks a lot to us. This is a lot of what this verse is
saying. Don’t just prepare for the next
battle but forgive and move on from this one.
If you are unwilling to forgive, you will have no peace because you are
not at peace with each other. If you
have no peace with someone, your friend or your spouse or a family member, seek
to reconcile with them. Seek out each
other and pray for peace and ask each other for forgiveness and when you speak
forgiveness; mean it; truly mean and desire to have peace with each other.
Perhaps the hardest place to find peace is
with our self. This can be the hardest
to find because we know how our heart and our sinful nature knows our fears. Our sinful nature will attack our sense of
peace; using fear, worry and painful memories.
Our peace is attacked by the devil and our sinful nature by questioning
our health, our wealth, our hopes and dreams, even drawing on painful
experiences from years gone by. The
devil spares no effort in seeking to keep you from peace.
Yet God wants you to be at peace. He gives us peace which will give us the
comfort to face today. We have the
certainty of our eternal salvation and we have the promise of comfort for today’s
problems. God comes to us with his grace
and mercy, using His Word to remind us of his promises, his sacraments to renew
and refresh us and our brothers and sisters in Christ to be his hands, arms,
shoulders and voice of flesh and blood love and compassion. God wants us to be at peace with Him and with
each other so we can live the life He desires us to have.
Gracious Father, we give you thanks for
peace. We give you thanks for the rest
that we receive from your peace. Give us
the power and wisdom to seek peace with our brothers and sisters in Christ that
we may live as you desire. In Jesus’
precious name we pray, amen.
God’s
Peace,
Pastor Bret
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